Steam-engine



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W.. M. HENDERSON.

STEAM ENGINE.

Patented Apr. 6, 1,886.

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(No Model.) l 5 Sheets-Sheet 2.4 W. M. HENDERSON.

STEAM ENGINE.

No. 339,292. Patented Apr. 6, 1886.

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STEAM ENGINE. No. 339,292. Patented Apr. 6, 1886.

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lSTEAM ENGINE.

No. 339,292. vPatented Apr. 6, 1886.

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5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

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W. M. HENDERSON.

STEAM ENGINE.

N0. 339,292. Patented Apr. 6, 1886.

@Ome/mw mvENToH NiTnD STATES PATENT Ordnen.

\VILLIA M M. HENDERSON, OF MORTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

STEAM-ENGINE.

V;:`5IPECI1:"ICATISN forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,292, dated April 6, 1886.

Application led May 20, 1885.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. HENDER- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Morton, in the county of Delaware and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like parts are marked in the same manner.

My invention relates to an improvement upon that class of engines known as multiplecylinder engines,77 and the object is to economize the use of steam in their operation by means of compounding the cylinders and providing simple and durable pistons7 which, by the addition of a simple groove turned midway in lhei r length, lits them to serve as the steam-valves, in connection with an im-` proved arrangement ot' steam distributing ports, together with certain other novel im` proveniente in the form ot' connecting-rods and their bearings; also, in the matter of lubrication ofthe working parts and protecting the cylinders Afrom undue condensation, and a general improvement in the manner of arranging the cored ports in the cylinder-casting, whereby the construction is greatly si mpliiied, and the operation rendered more eiiicient and permanent than heretofore, as hereinafter more fully described.

The modern compound engine in the form it has most obtained is that in which two cyl inders are used-high and low pressure-and it is my aim to construct an engine of this type, using a three-throw crank as an eXpedient to do away with all valvegear. In order, therefore, to have a cylinder for each crank, I divide the required area of the lowpressure cylinder into two cylinders ot' equal size, and use the higlrpressure cylinder on the iirst crank.

Figure l represents a longitudinal section of my improved engine. Fig. 2 is an .end view of the crank-shaft. Fig. 3 is a vertical section, drawn to an enlarged scale, of one of the trunk-pistons, showing the form of connecting-rod and the manner of making the upper bearing-joint alike for the several cyl- Serial No. 166,152. (No molel.) i

inders. Fig. 4 is a cross-section showing the interior of the intermediate receiver, taken through the line X X of Fig. 5, which is a horizontal section through the line ot' cylinders, showing the plan ot' the steam and exhaust ports and passages, taken on the zigzag line 'v t of Fig. et, t-he part below the line I W' being taken through the steam-ports, and the part above that line being taken through the exhaust-ports. Fig. 6 is a plan of the cylinder-cover. Fig. 7 is a diagram of` the valve-motion, and Fig. 8 is a plan and section of one ot' the iiy-wheels used. Fig. 9 is a section showing a mere formal moditication, iu which the third cylinder is twice the area ot the second, the section being taken through the exhaust-ports, and the steaurports being indicated by dotted lines.

A is an incloscd crank case or housing for the engine, containing the lubricating material required for the running parts, upon which are mounted the three workingcylinders, (marked l 2 3 in Figs. l, (i, and 9.)

B is a crank-shalt, the parts of the shaft (marked 1, 2, and in Figs. l, 2, and 8) which form the crank-pins being in the relative position ol' the angles ol' an eqnilateral triangle. This shaft runs in long phosphor-bronze bearings, seeured in the heads C C', which are bolted to the crank-case, as shown.

I), Fig. 3, shows theform ofthe connectingrods,which are all alike. It will be observed that no crosshead pins are used. The upper ends of the connecting-rods are in the form of a ball working in composition sockets, forming ball-and-socketjoints. rIhe lower part of the socket after being turned is sawed in two and made to embrace the neck of the ball. rIhe rod being passed through the neck of the piston to receive it, is then lowered in place, the top cap put in position, and the whole secured by the follower F, which also secures the spring packing-ring, as shown. Atithe lower end of the rod half-boxes of phosphor bronze are used for receiving the thrust,which is always in a downwarddirection. The lower half of the box may be of cast-iron secured by a turned bolt and nut with split pin to prevent coming apart under the strains of very rapid revolution. At the lower end of each trunk-piston there is attached a coveiplate, H, slotted to form an opening only suiiicient to allow the vibration of the connecting-rod. The object of this is to prevent that splashing of the cold contents of the case into the interior ofthe hollow pistons which generally occurs in engines of "this class, with a view to lubricate the upper pin of the rod. The vice of such plan of lubricating the pin is, that it converts the hollow pistons into a species of surface-condensers,not onlywasting the working-steam by unnecessary condensation, but also unduly heating the lubricant, and thereby the journals.

Thelubrication of the upper pin I accomplish in a different manner, not requiring the splashing or involving the objections stated. l make thesocket-bearings of a composition of copper and tin, and provide a recess in the follower F of the piston communicating with the interior of the cap by a small drilled hole, O, through which steam condensed on the head of the piston will enter to the bearing. Thisintrod uction of condensed steam, with the composition socket-bearings employed, renders further lubrication unnecessary.

Tith a view to further guard against eooling the steam-cylinders than is done by the plate H, I protect their bottoms below the steam-line with a shield of'wood or other nonconducting'materiah M, as shown.

The phophor-bronze bearings of the shaftjournals are simply sleeves secured in the castiron heads either by a key or set-screw, or in any other suitable manner. The boss on the head is swelled, leaving a circular cavity to contain cotton wick or other suitable material, to absorb and hold the lubricant from the case in constant proximity to the running shaft. The fluid enters by the hole marked z and finds its way to the oil-holes N, drilled in the upper part of the sleeve. A constant lubrication of the journals is thus maintained, and the fluid from the case having free access to the journal-boxes must keep them in a cool condition. The shaft, it will be noticed, .is further supported on Babbbitmetal bearings, as shown by the supports G G', Fig. 1.

Cylinder No. 1 is the high-pressure, and cylinders Nos. 2 and 3 are the low-pressure cylinders. The latter are of the same size, the area of each being twice the area of cylirr der No. 1, and their collective capacity being four to one of that cylinder. Thus it will be noticed that although three .cylinders are employed the effect is very much the same as given by the popular compound engine having two cylinders-high and low pressure. The stroke of all the pistons is the same. The

position of each crankpin center is just where the center of an eccentric would be required to be to cut off the steam at three-fourths of the stroke of the piston attached to the next following crank. The movements are soltimed that crank No. 3 gives steam to the pist-on in cylinder No. 1 when the latter arrives at the top of itsstroke. Crank No. 1 performs the same function for the piston of cylinder No. 2, and crank No. 2 performs the same function for the piston of cylinder No. 3. Taking advair tage of this established property of the threethrow crank, a simple annular groove turned in the body of each piston fits it to act as a valve for the piston connected to the next following crank. The pistons are all alike for the three cylinders, except as to diameter, as before explained. It will be observed that the vgroove in the piston being circumferential it is not affected by side-thrust, producing friction and leakage, as would be the case where receivers are formed on a piston for the purpose of receiving and transmitting steam.`

The operation is as follows: Steam from the boiler connects with the inlet marked S', and when the piston of cylinder No. 3 vdescends the groove therein comes into position to receive the steam and pass it across to the steamport S P. Thence it passes by the long pas sage P3 and enters the head ofthe high-pressure cylinder No. 1, meeting its piston just as it arrives at the top of its stroke and follows it down to three-fourths of the stroke, at which point the steam is cut off by the groove in the piston of cylinder No. 3, which, after reaching its lowest point, rises beyond the port S P. By the time the No. 1 piston reaches its lowest point the groove of No. 3 piston commences to establish a connection with the ex- I haustAport E P, and the steam from the cylin der No. 1 (which has performed its duty of carrying the high-pressure piston to the end of its stroke) returns by the same passage, P3, and is discharged into the receiver R through the exhaust-port E, situated on the same plane as the port E P, so that when the circumferential groove comes opposite port E P it also coincides with the exhaust-port E', which is a simple hole cast through the wall of cylinder No. 3, opening at once without obstruction into the receiver. The groove of piston No. 1 now performs the function of a valve for the piston in cylinder No. 2 and admits the steam from the receiver thereto in the same manner as-just described, and the groove ot' piston No. 2 performs the same duty for the piston of cylinder No. 3, completing the cycle. The exhausts from the low-pressure cylinders, having thus been expanded to as low a tension as efliciency requires, are now discharged into the atmosphere or condenser. In the high-pressure cylinder the final exhaust, E2, is made the same height as the other ports, and a supplemental exhaust, E, is provided, disconnected therefrom and opening into the receiver, so that when the upper edge of the high-pressure piston descends below the upper line o'f this supplemental exhaust the discharge is made into the receiver R. In the low-pressure cylinder No. 2 the final exhaust is made twice the height of the other ports, and when this piston reaches its lowest point the upper edge thereof descends a little below the upper line of the exhaust-port E3, giving a supplementary exhaust. The remaining exhaust-,EQ on cylinder No. 3 is in height the same as the depth ofthe groove in the piston.

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This feature of exhausting at the end of the stroke in a steam-engine by the piston passing beyond apertures formed in the walls of the cylinder I am aware is notnewper se. Itis fully described in the English patent granted to VVillia-m Henry James in 1864, No. 1,445. Lead is given to the exhaust by cutting away in whole or in part the upper edge of the annular groove ofthe piston-valve, as shown by Y on Fig. common, and especially advantageous in fastrunning engines. There is another advantage of greater importance in cutting away this upper corner. By reference to Fig. 1 it will be observed that the piston of No. 2, moving in the direction of the arrow, has just cut ofi` the steam in cylinder No. 8, and that the piston in No. 1 has just arrived at the top of its stroke. At the same time the annular groove in No. 3, moving downward, as indicated by the arrow, is just uncovering the steam-port to admit steam to the cylinder No. 1, while the piston ofNo.1 is allowing full exhaust from cylinder No. 2. Shortly the piston of No. 1 in moving downward would close the exhaust. The corner not being cut away, this would occur when the piston of No. 2 had completed three-fourths of its upward or return stroke, when compression would commence. It is here that the greater value of cutting away the pistonedge, before referred to, comes into play. By cutting away the portion Y (shown on the drawings, Fig. 3) the compression is reduced from one-fourth of the stroke to about one-eighth. This will be better understood by examining the diagram of the valve-motion shown by Fig. 7. The engine takes steam at ,the commencement of the stroke, and the cut-off takes place at b, three-fourths of the downstrokc. Without this cut-away the exhaust would begin precisely at the end of the stroke, but by virtue ofthe part removed (represented by the distance Y) the exhaust takes place this much earlier at c, giving about the usual amount ol' exhaust lead recommendedin fast-ri'lnning engines. Similarly the point where compression sets in is shifted by the same cause, and delayed until the crank travels the distance Y past the three-quarter part of the stroke, and the compression begins at d seven-eighths ofthe upstroke. This description of the valve motion will serve for all the cylinders.

It will noticed that the port-passages proper belonging to the three cylinders are uniformly alike and occupy the same relative position on the central line running through the cylindeis in the direction of the axial line of the shaft, giving to the steam remaining in-the passages belonging to cylinders 2 and 3, after the exhaust is closed, a degree of compression equal to about the pressure of the steam contained in the receiver R, in which case the effect of their clearance-space is rendered practically nfl. The passage leading to the high-pressure cylinder is an addition, and the waste of This prerelease of the steam isA steam it would cause at each stroke would be of a ruinous character in an ordinary engine. Here no such loss occurs, for the contained steam is not exhausted and wasted at every stroke, as would be the case were this an ordinary engine, but is exhausted into an intermediate receiver, R, from which the cylinders 2 and 3 take their supply of steam. The quantity of this steam being the amount discharged from the first cylinder, the capacity of the receiver should be about equal to the combined contents of the two low-pressure cylinders. This intermediate receiver is a reservoir into which the steam exhausted from the first cylinder is stored in readiness to be admitted to cylinders 2 and 3 when they are prepared to take it.

Instead of having two low-pressure cylinders of the same size, it is obvious that one may be employed of that size-wiz., double the area of the first cylinderdischarging into a second receiver, or, what is the saine thing, a divided receiver, as shown in Fig. 9, and another lower-pressure cylinder of double the capacity of the second cylinder may be used, which last cylinder shall alone exhaust into the atmosphere or condenser; but I prefer for the general purposes for which this invention is intended-to wit, the building of economical high-speed engines-to compound the cylinders as described. They are cheaper to fit up, and give an expansion of the steam of about five times, which will easily give double thepowerwitli the same steam of any common non-compound engine, reaching up to the highest attainment of the automatic engine, without any of its complication.

A section of the intermediate receiver through the line .rm of Fig. 5 is shown by Fig. 4. It will be seen by reference to these figures that the steam exhausted from thehigh-pressure cylinder entering the receiver by the port marked E circulates freely all through the receiver, and that the cylinders 2 and 3 take their steam therefrom through the ports marked S2 and Sii and exhaust E2 E3. From the bottom of the receiver a drain-pipe, I, leads, on which is fitted a steam-trap to alito` inatically carry off the water of such condensation as may take place in the receiver. One other point to be noticed is the manner in which the revolving cranks and reciprocating pistons and rods are balanced. In the case of the cranks, as the center of gravity of the triangle composing the cheeks of the same'is precisely at the; center of motion, the cranks are truly balanced, with the exception of the pins. The individual weight of each pin, together with the connecting-rod and attached piston, are counterbalanced by a proper weight situated in the rim of-the ily-wheel, as shown in Fig. 8, the rim being cast partly hollow, leaving the balance-weights V, XW, and XV cast solidly in. The weight XV multiplied by the leveragcis made to equal one-half of the weight of the corresponding piston-rod and IOO IIO

crank-pin it is intended to balance. There being two iy-wheels, the full balance is effected between them.

As a finish to the engine, the cylinders are enveloped by a casing, lc, of Russia iron, after being padded with non-conducting material, and this casing is secured in place by a polished iron cover, L, simply forced down as a lid from above, the head being previously padded. The whole exterior of the engine then presents a perfectly smooth and rounded contour.

I am aware of German Patents Nos. (5,948 and 8,577, and alsoof the United States Patent of Bown, No. 310,369, and I claim nothing disclosed in said patents.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, ism

1. In a multiple-cylinder compound engine, as described, the combination of the two lowpressure cylinders 2 and 3 with the highpressure cylinder' l, all fitted with trunk-pistons, each -having a circumferential groove playing over steam and exhaust ports and controlling the operation of the piston attached to the next following crank, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. In a multiplecylinder compound engine, as described, the combination of the circumferentiallygrooved trunk-pistons with the steam and exhaust ports,thc groove alternately matching the steam-inlet, and the steam-port leading to another cylinder in its downstroke, and the exhaust-port leading from that cylinder and the exhaust outlet-port on its upstroke, arranged substantially as specified and shown.

3. In a multiple-cylinder compound engine, as described, the combination of the highpressure cylinder, the steam-passage P3, and the groove in the piston 3, matching on its upstroke the exhaust-aperture E', cut th rough the wall of cylinder No. 3 directly into the intermediate receiver, R, arranged substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified and shown. y

4. In combination with the pistons and connecting-rods of a multiple-cylinder engine, the shaft B, having balanced triangular crankcheeks, the center of gravity coinciding with the center of motion, substantially as repre sented.

5. The combination of the inclosed crankcase A with the slotted cover-plates I-I, attached to the lower ends of the trunk-pistons, substantiallydin the manner and for the purpose specified,

6. rIhe combination of the inclosed crankcase A with the interposed non-conducting shield M, arranged substantially in the inanner and for the purpose described.v

7. As an improvement in an engine, the combination of the inclosed cra11k-caseA with the hollow heads C C', formed with cavities in the body of the hub, and sleeve-journal bearings and oil-hole Z, leading from the interior ofthe case to the annular cavity in the hub, arranged substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

8. As van improvement in an engine, the combination of the hollow trunk-piston, the cap perforated at O, the recessed follower F, and ball-jointed connecting-rod D, arranged substantially in the manner and forthe purpose herein described.

9. rlhe combination of the cylinders, their ports and grooved pistons, with a double or divided receiver', substantiallyY as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my han d.

VI'LLIAM M. HENDERSON.

Vitncsses:

A. A. BENKERT, .Iosias II. BROWN. 

